Brewers struggle against Phillies ace Nola

PHILADELPHIA — Wily Peralta can’t pinpoint exactly what his problems have been. But the Milwaukee Brewers pitcher knows he has to figure out a way to fix them soon.

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Peralta allowed five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings and the Philadelphia Phillies hit three home runs Sunday in an 8-1 win over the Brewers.

"I feel pretty good but I know you’re not supposed to be throwing this way," said Peralta (3-7). "I just have to keep battling and get better next time."

Aaron Nola pitched six scoreless innings and matched his career high with nine strikeouts for the Phillies, who backed him with a season-high 13 hits.

Maikel Franco homered in the third, then Jimmy Paredes and Cameron Rupp hit back-to-back shots during a five-run fifth.

"When a pitcher gets a ball up in the zone, we want to attack it," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "And up until today, we haven’t done enough of that. Hopefully this is the start of something big for us."

Nola (5-4), who turned 23 on Saturday, maneuvered out of several jams. The Brewers stranded 10 runners against him, including seven in scoring position. They left runners on second and third in each of the first two innings.

Nola gave up eight hits and left with a 2.65 ERA.

"It’s frustrating," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "We had a lot of two-out opportunities. We did a good job getting baserunners against Nola but he did a real nice job with his breaking ball. He made good pitches when he had to."

The last batter Peralta faced was rookie Tommy Joseph, who hit an RBI double — it was initially ruled a home run before being overturned due to fan interference.

Reliever Neil Ramirez then gave up home runs to his first two batters as Rupp followed Paredes’ three-run drive with another shot. It was the first time this season the Phillies hit back-to-back homers.

The Phillies led 3-0 when Odubel Herrera, who had four hits, singled to begin the big fifth.